Hercules, constellation in the northern sky at about 17 hours right ascension and 30° north in declination. Its brightest star is Beta Herculis, with a magnitude of 2.8. Hercules contains the solar apex, the point on the sky toward which the Sun is moving as it orbits in the Milky Way Galaxy, and M13, one of the brightest globular clusters. To early Greek astronomers such as Eudoxus and Hipparchus, this constellation was known as Engonasin, Greek for “the kneeling man.” It was not until the 2nd century bce that the identification was made with the Greek hero Heracles.

Learn More in these related articles:

in astronomy, any of certain groupings of stars that were imagined—at least by those who named them—to form conspicuous configurations of objects or creatures in the sky. Constellations are useful in tracking artificial satellites and in assisting astronomers and navigators to locate...

in astronomy, the east–west coordinate by which the position of a celestial body is ordinarily measured; more precisely, it is the angular distance of a body’s hour circle east of the vernal equinox, measured along the celestial equator. It is often expressed in units of time rather...

in astronomy, the angular distance of a body north or south of the celestial equator. Declination and right ascension, an east-west coordinate, together define the position of an object in the sky. North declination is considered positive and south, negative. Thus, +90° declination marks the...

External Links

Britannica Web sites

In astronomy, Hercules is a constellation, or group of stars. It is the fifth largest constellation in the night sky. Hercules is usually pictured as a kneeling man. His foot rests on the head of Draco, a nearby constellation representing a dragon.

In astronomy, Hercules is a constellation of the Northern Hemisphere. Hercules, named after the Roman mythological hero (Heracles in Greek mythology), lies between Lyra and Corona Borealis far north of the celestial equator-the imaginary line formed by the projection of the Earth’s equator onto the sky. With an area of 1,225 square degrees, Hercules is the fifth largest constellation.